Summer's Child
by Strange Principles
Summary: Harry and Ginny's child comes home from the first school year having made an unusual friend an enemy on 'Potter' territory. It'll cause a whole chain of tears, loss, and Edith will get her first taste of what her Father's life was like.
1. Chapter 1

-1**_A/N: To summarise this, basically this is about Harry and Ginny's daughter's time after a year of Hogwarts, only most of the stuff here is going to happen within the family. Basically, the name isn't one I like… because people don't normally get the names they want, like lovely exotic ones that are the names of flowers… -cough-not that I want one of those -cough-. Basically 'cause I'm one of those people who thinks 'ah, who cares if you have an original name? Originality comes from the insiiide…' Yep, so anyway… read away!_**

_**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters in the current Harry Potter books (like Harry himself, duh), but I do own Edith, Albert and Obedience. (Not the names, even though I like them and I'd like to have credit, but hell, you can't have everything, but the characters…)**_

_**Chapter One**_

Edith clambered off the red steam engine and hopped onto the platform, swiftly followed by a boy with ginger-brown hair and freckles, and a girl with long blond hair and eerily light blue eyes.

"Wow," she said. "I guess that's our first year of Hogwarts over and done with."

"Yeah, I guess so." Said the ginger-haired boy. His name was Albert, and he bore it with much disgruntlement. Apparently, it was a family name of some kind of great yet distant uncle. His mother was a very intelligent woman working in Hogwarts express; he grumbled that she was unnecessarily harsh on him when handing out Transfiguration homework. His father was a Quidditch Player for the Chudley Cannons; however unlikely that had seemed when he'd first said it.

"Do you reckon I could come round either of your houses this summer?" Said a sad looking Obedience. Obedience by name, Obedience by nature. Her father was best unspoken; he had been killed with the demise of the Death Eaters. His name had been Draco Malfoy. She didn't know of a mother, due to the fact that Draco Malfoy had never been very faithful. Either way, she was a nice person to be around, though occasionally a bit stupid, with her head in the clouds.

"Sure. Dad won't mind knowing I've got friends, and mum will be fine with it, too." Said Edith. She liked being called Eddie, but seeing as that never happened much except with Obedience, she had learnt to live with it. Sometimes, she'd realised, nicknames stuck. Sometimes, they didn't. She was tall for twelve, with long black hair that had the odd red streak, and green eyes. Freckles adorned a youthful and pretty complexion, and around her neck a striped scarf had been flung around in a hurry, because she couldn't fit the rest in her trunk. (This explained the books she had stuffed in her owl's cage, the socks littering the sides of her trolley, and the sweets she had stuffed in her pockets).

"You're sure? I mean, your dad… from what I hear, he wasn't too good friends with mine…" said Obedience in a small voice. Edith smiled warmly.

"Yeah, well maybe that's true, but he doesn't hold grudges against people just 'cause he had a grudge on them… he's not like the old professor in the history books, Professor Snape…"

Obedience gave a giggle. "There he is. And, oh. There's the people from the Orphanage…" She frowned miserably before their farewells were made, and she trailed off. Albert looked up to find his parents talking with Edith's, so they trailed off together.

Ginny Weasley turned around to look at them and rushed up to Edith, giving her a hug. "Hi, Albert!" She said merrily, and swooped down on him, too. "Oh, wow. How time flies. I haven't seen you nearly… a whole year!"

Edith smiled up at her mother. "Hey mum, it's good to see you too!"

"And what about me?"

Her father, Harry, looked down at her with his eyebrows raised, arms crossed in faked anger. Then he smiled and hugged her, too. "How was your year?" He said, when she pulled away. "As bad as Ron's and mine's first?"

"Oi!" Came a shout. "I wasn't that bad company when you got the stone! I got knocked out for you!"

Albert smiled, and went to his father.

"No, it was fine, dad," grinned Edith. "I made a few friends. One of them wants to come over at summer. Do you reckon you'd mind?"

"Why would I mind?"

"Uh," Why was this hard to say? "Because… because, well, she's Draco Malfoy's daughter… and she doesn't want to stay in the Orphanage all summer…"

Harry tensed for a second. Then he relaxed. "Well, if that's the case, she should definitely come over…"

"But--" For some reason, she was surprised. Her father looked down at her with an eye that told her just how much experience he had with the world.

"Hey, Edith. Rule number one in life - some people are bad. Tom Riddle was an orphan. He was bad. Draco Malfoy was just pure evil and not to mention, he got on my nerves big time. That's what people might associate with your friend. But hey, there's good in everyone."

Edith smiled. "Yeah. I guess. Can we go home now?"

**Harry's Point Of View**

_Good in everyone._

_Like there was good in Merope, Tom Riddle's mother. So how come he turned out to be so bad? Because the rest of the Gaunt's were evil? No. It's not inheritance that makes us bad. It's our choices. That's what I've been telling myself for a long time now. It's our choices. It's our experiences. So, who cares if her dad was one of the most notorious Death Eaters around?_

_It's funny that although I defeated Voldemort so long ago, I compare everything anyone says or does to what my experiences there were like. I realised a long time ago that it wasn't my parents that made me good. It was having the shit beaten out of me by Dudley as a kid. It was about having a sense of humour. It was about me sitting next to Ron on that first day at Hogwarts. It was about me finding out things, knowing things, having friends who I relied on. And at the end, it was about them too. _

_I know Edith's too young to understand now, just like I would have been too young to understand the Prophecy, but one day, I'll give her the rules of life that are related to my experiences. _

Harry's thoughts were scattered. But hand in hand with both his wife and daughter, he walked out of Platform Nine and Three Quarters happily. Who would have thought that Ron and Hermione, after that huge argument in their seventh year, would have finally got together and have a son in the same year as Edith at Hogwarts? Harry though everyone had been surprised to learn that Hermione had applied for Transfiguration Teacher, and Head Of Gryffindor, at the end of the previous year. He had a sneaking suspicion it was because she wanted to monitor her son's behaviour, but he knew that if he let slip such a suspicion to anyone and it reached her, he was as good as dead. Well, knowing Hermione, it would probably worse than death…

Then his thoughts turned back to Edith's invitation to Draco Malfoy's daughter over the summer holidays. He knew it was unfair, he knew he wasn't trusting to his thoughts about good and bad people, but he was unnerved.

Something was coming…

_**Sorry, had to stick Harry's POV in the first chapter, otherwise it wouldn't be as exciting. So, anyways, R & R please, and I promise it'll get much better as it goes along. You know, a sprinkling of drama and combat here and there… **_


	2. Chapter 2

-1**A/N: Taking place 2 weeks after the last chapter. I know it's a gap, but I don't want this to be to long as it'll interfere with HWOWWG7 (wow, big title), and it's only a short angst type of thing anyhow. But this chapter isn't going to be angst… it's going to be happy, so the angst bit can be all the more tear-jerking… **

**Natalie: Thanksh. And your new story ish…. HILARIOUS!**

**Chapter 2**

Ginny looked out at Edith playing Quidditch on the vast lawn with Albert. Ron and Hermione were staying, as was tradition every summer. The sun was setting in the sky and the last glimmers were caught in the air, shedding warmth on the golden evening. She couldn't help but stifle a giggle as she wound a finger in her red curls and saw Edith score against Albert, who was hopelessly floundering about in the air. She knew he'd get better with time and confidence; he shared a lot of Ron's traits, but as Hermione had said proudly as he'd first begun counting at the age of one and a half, he did have half a brain after all -- so no worries.

Looking up to the old clock that her mother had given her as a wedding present, her laughter turned to a mirthless sigh as Harry's hand still lay quivering on 'work'. At least she should be relieved it was not hovering on 'mortal peril' as she had found it doing so previous times. She'd always known in her heart he'd become an Auror -- but she thought that on his birthday, maybe he could take the time off to be a little less dedicated. Her eyes widened, however, because as if with her thoughts, the hand moved to 'travelling', and then came the familiar footsteps coming up to the kitchen door.

"Hello, you!" She said happily, bounding from her chair and flinging her arms round him as he entered the kitchen. "Happy Birthday. I would have said it this morning, if you hadn't have left before I could…"

"What?" Harry's eyes widened. "I forgot! It's my birthday!"

Ginny laughed out loud. Sometimes when she had celebrated previous birthdays Harry had looked at her like a birthday was some kind of alien thing, something no one should get too happy about. And because of that, she wanted to go to his Uncle and Aunt's house and teach them the pronunciation of her bat bogey hexes. But anyway -- he was there now, so it didn't particularly matter.

"Wow, Harry. Only you could manage to forget it. The kids made cards and presents, but do you think you could go out there and tell them how you really play Quidditch?"

He smiled.

"Sure; but only if you come with me!"

Ginny frowned for a second, but she knew Hermione could manage with all the arrangements for the party by herself; so she went out onto the lawn with Harry and fumbled to get their Skylight's out of the shed. Edith immediately ran up to her father and gave him a huge hug that would have sent Ginny toppling backwards.

"Heyyy…. Dad… Happy Birthday…"

"You coming to play Quidditch?"

Ginny grinned before she turned around and tossed the broom to Harry. She herself assigned positions.

"Right, teams. We'll have… Harry and Albert on one side, and Edith and I on the other. Yes… alright… you two can be the Chasers…"

And so the game commenced.

XXXXX

One or two hours later, they came down from the darkened lawn, all with eyes sparkling with the hilarity of it all. Edith had managed to hit Albert with the Jellylegs curse as her wand fell out of her pocket, and as a result, poor Albert had not only been tossed off his broom but he'd also scored an own goal and hit the ball in Ginny's face. Neither teams had won seeing as no one had bothered to keep the score, but their spirits were up. Ginny couldn't remember having laughed so much. It was wonderful to her that she and Harry had been able to rebuild their lives after Voldemort had ruined it.

But she could see sometimes, Harry still thought of him. He still dwelt on the past, and that was what led to him spending days tracking down dark wizards, because there was an empty space in him that still wanted revenge for all the deaths Voldemort caused, but that couldn't be filled because Voldemort wasn't there to kill a hundred times. And that was where Edith came in, because she was the jewel of their lives, whether she knew it or not.

Ginny could sense it, through the smiles and the laughter. She knew. It was an old feeling her own mother used to swear she suffered from in the old days, when Ginny still attended Hogwarts.

There was something, winging its way down to them. A wave building its power to crash down upon them its hardest, just when they were unprepared. Just when they decided to take a rest from the glancing behind their backs whenever they turned a corner….

It was something to do with the invitation from Edith to Obedience, and Ginny knew that something was wrong.

The party commenced as prepared, and Harry seemed overwhelmed. But Ginny couldn't help feeling distracted, detached from the celebrations; she knew it; she wasn't going crazy. There… was… a presence. And that night, when finally, all things had calmed down, Ginny looked up at the clear night sky, a blanket of stars, and she knew.

Something was coming…

_**A/N: Next Chapter is Edith's POV, followed by Harry's, and that's when it kicks off. Please R & R, and thanks to all people who reviewed!**_


	3. Chapter 3

-1Rainydaythinkin - Ee! Thank you!

Don'tLetMeGetMe -- Call her whatever you want, and yeah, Hermione and Ron have another kid, it's just pretty young and I must have forgot to mention her. Oh, and, I know I said the next chapters would be Harry and Edith, but I'm sticking Obedience in anyways (I like the name, too!)

Bunny Princess - Lol, nice name. Thank you.

Fluffy-89: -Happiness-

Something of Nothing… yadda yadda: I recognise your name. Do I know you:P Hee.

**Chapter Three**

Obedience dreamt.

_The corridor was cold, and held the same characteristics as the corridor that lead up to her room in the Orphanage, except it had none of it's normal feel. No Mrs Tungrin bustling up there, seemingly in seven places at once; no screaming children waiting for their tea or trailing around, hanging onto the edge of her robes._

"_Obedience, you must help me."_

_The voice held a power that Obedience feared she'd quiver at every time she slept. The 'must help me' held no sign of plea, never letting her even think that she was more powerful than it. It had a commanding ring, something she daren't disobey._

"_Yes…" She whispered against her fingers. Obedience by name, Obedience by nature. Everyone said it._

"_Tell me all the words you have exchanged with Harry Potter's daughter."_

"_You won't… hurt her?" Obedience uttered, terrified. Her lips trembled and her hands were slowly wringing themselves. She shivered in the imaginary cold of the corridor._

"_She is not my direct target, but my revenge is unsatisfied. If I can help it, I will try to avoid her. But only for your sake, Obedience…"_

_Only for your sake. Obedience wished the words were true, but she knew they could never be. And yet, she was to scared not to obey. Too scared to deny the voice that sent her shivering every night and waking in a cold sweat. It was too much. She clamped her hands over her ears, in attempt to stop the impenetrable voice in her head._

"_Obedience, I will need your help to get out of here…"_

_Oh no. That definitely wasn't a plea. And Obedience, she tried to close her eyes to the face, the face she had dreaded see for eternity, kept safe from the real world, stopped the decay of time making it any worse than it already was…_

_The face of her father._

**Edith's POV**

Edith couldn't wait that night. It was her father's birthday, and the celebrations had gone on for much longer than she'd expected. It was good to be home. In her first year of Hogwarts she'd managed to get lost quite a few times in the Forbidden Forest and apparently, or so Hermione said, she was just the same as her father. Edith found that flattering; after all, though he was he father, Harry Potter was one of the most famous wizards around. And her mother, she was famous too, for all the times when she used to play Quidditch. Still, the lives of her parents couldn't compare to having her friends over for Summer, and she was looking forward to seeing Obedience.

She closed her eyes, knowing that in a few hours time it would be morning (that was how long the celebrations had lasted), and Obedience would be coming to their house as arranged. She always looked forward to seeing Albert, too, and his little brother, but they came around _every_ summer. Having Obedience was more like a novelty that she should savour. After all, it would be the first time she'd see her out of school…

The moon outside illuminated the windowpanes of the Potter's cottage, in the middle of nowhere. Clouds formed a misty shroud over its luminosity, casting the house in shadow. They gathered a red tint like a wound gathers blood, and the sleeping Potters weren't even aware. Something was sure though. Something was watching. Something was coming…

**THE NEXT DAY**

"Mum, you do remember, don't you?" Edith said, for about the eleventh time since she had got up. She couldn't help it. She felt like a seven year old, excited over the first day of a new year or a new toy. She was going to be with all her friends, in her house, for the first time in… two weeks. Well, it didn't sound too phenomenal, but still, she was excited.

"How could I forget about it, seeing as you've been hopping around the house yelling it to the world?" Laughed Ginny Weasley, attacking Edith's hair with a wet comb.

"I haven't!" Said Edith peevishly, but when she looked back up at her mother she couldn't help laughing. "Okay, so maybe I've been a _bit_ excited…" Edith looked down at her watch.

"Oh! It's already eleven! She should be here now…"

And leaving her mother still standing with a wet comb in her hand, Edith rushed into the ramshackle living room to stand eagerly in front of the fireplace.

Something was coming!

**Obedience's POV**

"I can't… No, no, I won't! No, please!" And then Obedience screamed, the feel of a thousand knives against her flesh. She woke up, sweat coursing down her brow, eyes full of tears, still writhing with the pain of the Cruciatus Curse. Then a truth that was even more terrifying than the chance of the curse being laid upon her again: today was the day she was going to the Potter's. Today was the day…

She closed her eyes.

_I won't let you do this, father! I won't!_

Pain, so much pain…

And words.

_You will do it willingly, Obedience, or you will do it under the Imperius Curse. I need my revenge. You know how long I've been caught in this dream world, not really existing. All because of Potter. And now, you, my daughter, will help me. You'll help me avenge myself, possess Potter to destroy everything he loves…_

Obedience let the tears flow free. So that was the plan. Not just to kill. To ruin the whole family. But now, she couldn't just detach herself from the plan. Half of the spell had been laid. The other half would have to be laid. She had done the deed that would seal the Potter's fate… she had made the Unbreakable Vow…

A knock came at the door. Mrs Tungrin chivvied her from her bed, and Obedience tried to forget the terrible nightmare. Maybe that was all it was. It had to be…

Before she knew it, she was standing in front of the fireplace with a Mrs Tungrin bidding her goodbye. She grasped the Floo powder, stood in the fireplace, and closed her eyes. She closed her eyes to the world. She closed her eyes to everything. She closed her eyes to anything but her mind, something she could never close. A thought prickled her senses, and she turned so no one could see the tear creeping down her face. Something was coming. It was her. It was fate.

Something was coming…

**A/N: Please R&R, thank you!**


	4. Chapter 4

-1**Harry's POV**

Harry woke up from a fitful nightmare. The moon had turned red, like ink upon parchment, and the next minute he had been hovering over his own destroyed house, with bodies of his family outstretched amongst the rubble. And he knew it had meaning. He knew something was wrong. Something was coming. Coming with an urge to destroy everything he had ever known. He couldn't have that! He wouldn't!

Frantically he ran down the stairs, having fallen asleep fully robed; he heard voices in the living room. The silky voice of a blond haired girl. Through the crack of the door he knew how scared she was; she tried to hide her trembling hands under the handle of her trunk, and though a smile covered his face, Harry knew that rising pinkness in her cheeks. It was Draco Malfoy's daughter, and she was scared. Something was coming… something had come…

He burst in through the door, wand out, ready to spring on any danger.

"Edith! Away from her!"

"Dad?" Edith looked confused. "Dad, I don't - "

The girl, Obedience, couldn't hide the pure terror on her head, then; her hand jerked to her wand, as if fighting some kind of invisible force. Sweat beaded upon her forehead, and he could hear her mutter:

"_No, father, no… I won't do it… no…"_

"Dad?" Edith was confused. But with words more harsh than he would've liked, he told her with a ringing force to stand behind him, and she obeyed. His wand rose to the girl in front of him. What should he do? He didn't know what to do. But he knew she wasn't acting normally. He knew that if he did anything to her, she would be innocent.

And in his confusion, the girl suddenly collapsed onto the floor, screaming. Ginny ran into the room, eyes open and fearful. Ron and Hermione came down from upstairs to stand, eyes wide, in the doorway, at the full-grown man pointing his wand towards a twelve year old girl.

She screamed, and the world shook. The walls crumbled. Ash fell from the roof. And through the scream, the girl's lips formed unwilling words.

"_Ei'Prosessil!"_

Harry, with a pang of panic, recognised those words. She was releasing some kind of powerful spirit. Something to be scared of; something that could ruin the life he had hoped to build. He screamed for the others to leave the building, such was the noise, but they stood frozen, as if in time, as a huge plume of silvery gas issued from Obedience's screaming mouth. A form that Harry knew well, that had worn a Death Eater's mask the day Harry had defeated Voldemort, the day he had destroyed all the death eaters. Harry understood now. Draco Malfoy lived on in his daughter. His daughter was a Horcrux…

With a smile of malice towards his daughter, who fell limp on the floor, Harry felt the spirit of Draco Malfoy rush towards him. The world went cold, and this time, time really did seem to freeze. Harry felt the spirit of Draco Malfoy enter him, without even time to shout a counter curse. No time to say goodbye. His world went black…

**Ginny's POV**

Ginny's heart seemed to clench for an age as Harry fell into oblivion. Images flashed through her head and she could catch not a one of them; she had known. She had known all along, something was coming. Something had come. He couldn't be dead? No. He couldn't! She rushed towards him, crying no to the air…

Hermione pulled her up again. She fought against her grip.

"I have… I have to go to him…"

"Ginny…"

"He's… okay…"

"Ginny… he's dangerous."

_Dangerous?_

But not dead. Ginny looked imploringly at Hermione.

"What's happened, Hermione? What's going to happen?"

Hermione looked down at Obedience, unconscious on the floor, to the lifeless form of Harry.

"Draco Malfoy is going to destroy us all," she uttered softly. A tear welled up in her eye. Why? Ginny didn't understand. Hermione was looking at Harry with fright and remorse; what could evoke a reaction so centred around Harry?

Ginny stood up, stumbling away from his form. She knew something had come. But that was only the first wave. And she had a feeling taking root in her heart that the next manifestation would be bigger and more terrible than the first…

It had only been seconds since the silver-white lights had entered into Harry, but already, he was attempting to stand, with his wand in his hand. He wasn't Harry, though. He was… white. So white. His eyes carried a ghost of another, a smiling face with blue eyes, fires burning bright within them. And all of a sudden, Ginny was scared…


End file.
